It has been my experience that there are times in ministry in which I am called on to provide leadership in areas that I have no clue as to how to proceed. Example, I was not trained in seminary how to remove bats from the church. Isn’t that someone else’s job? As the pastor, it is something which I inherited.

Okay, enough with the bat story. What I am trying to say is that our lives reflect the incredible call which God places on our lives. That call involves moving out of our comfort zone and moving into a place which challenges us to listen, learn, and follow. Our journeys are individual and sacred unto us. No one walks in exactly our steps. Our common link is that the one who created us invites us to move along our path with the promise that we will not be alone on our journey.

My journey has been on my mind throughout the challenges and joys of this week. My son auditioned for the All-State Choir. We are anxiously awaiting his results. His story touches me profoundly. As a fellow musician, he is experiencing the joys and concerns of being freshly and newly in love with music. He is passionate and all-consuming with his music making.

I am not sure that this desire will last through the year much less the rest of his life, but I do know I see that excitement about music and I remember myself. There may have been many people who were more talented than me, but there are very few who were more passionate than me when it came to making music.

My wife and I are finding opportunities for my son to explore that part of himself which is compelled to make music. We travel to Albuquerque (a two hour drive from our house) on a weekly basis to provide him with the opportunity to be a part of the Albuquerque Boys’ Choir. He is accepted and celebrated in this venue.

The biggest life lesson that I think I can teach my child is that we are to model our lives as God loves us. I am talking about a radical transformative journey which sets out to take our wounded hearts and lead us to our heart’s delight. I want my child to see in me someone who was not afraid to live into the overwhelming call that God placed on my life. So what if it changes from music to something else, the groundwork by which he seeks out artistic expression may spill over into any part of his life.

And as for the bats in the church, they are gone. I called the chair of the Trustees and we waited until it was appropriate to close up the spaces in the roof in which the bats were flying into the building. One detour down, many more to go. I still claim the beauty of being on the path. That path that guides me and sustains me through the next detour. That path that fills me with passion and purpose to continue forward. My son’s love of music reminded me of my own journey this week.